“Good Tourism” news from Asia

Here you will find news about The “Good Tour­ism” Blog’s Part­ners and friends in Asia (includ­ing the Middle East) — espe­cially their sus­tain­able tour­ism and/or respons­ible travel activ­it­ies — plus “Good news in tour­ism” and cov­er­age of Asi­an travel & tour­ism industry events to which “GT” is invited or oth­er­wise involved. Ad hoc sponsored news posts are also very welcome.

Before Decem­ber 2019, “GT” would sum­mar­ise under-repor­ted news stor­ies or thought-pro­vok­ing fea­ture art­icles about or of import­ance to Asia by non-industry media. The sources were well-attrib­uted and linked. Any con­tent repub­lished in full was avail­able rights-free for that pur­pose from the likes of The Con­ver­sa­tion or the Thom­son Reu­ters Found­a­tion.

Could a primate be driven to extinction by “ecotourism”?

May 26, 2017

Could the endangered red-shanked douc langur ('Pygathrix nemaeus') be pushed to extinction by ecotourism? Source: GreenViet

Sci­ent­ists have warned that an endangered prim­ate may be pushed into extinc­tion by the devel­op­ment of con­crete build­ings for, iron­ic­ally, a “lux­ury eco-tour resort com­plex”. Some 237 herds of red-shanked douc langurs (Pygath­rix nemaeus), com­pris­ing more than 1,300 indi­vidu­als, are liv­ing in the Sơn Trà Nature Reserve in Đà Nẵng, Viet­nam, reports VNS. The Da […]

Read More Could a primate be driven to extinction by “ecotourism”?

Apo Island, Philippines to levy new fees on tourists

May 25, 2017

Sea turtle 'pawikan' off the shores of Apo Island. Source: Wikimedia / Jun V Lao

The famed dive des­tin­a­tion of Apo Island in Dauin, Negros Ori­ent­al, Phil­ip­pines, will levy new fees for tour­ists, accord­ing to the Phil­ip­pine News Agency. The fees, agreed upon by the Pro­tec­ted Area Man­age­ment Board (PAMB), would include moor­ing fees for boats used by tour­ists; for diving, swim­ming, snorkel­ing and oth­er activ­it­ies. Jose Bry­an Arranguez, Community […]

Read More Apo Island, Philippines to levy new fees on tourists

Kerala tourism director Kiran a champion of accessibility

May 24, 2017

When it comes to accessibility, Kerala Tourism refuses to be a backwater. Source: Kerala Tourism

A Dir­ect­or at the Depart­ment of Tour­ism in the Indi­an state of Ker­ala is lead­ing by example by mak­ing all state-admin­istered tour­ism facil­it­ies access­ible to all. The Times of India reports that in line with its policy of “bar­ri­er-free tour­ism”, the Ker­ala tour­ism depart­ment will make all its facil­it­ies, includ­ing parks and hotels, “dis­­­abled-friendly” before taking […]

Read More Kerala tourism director Kiran a champion of accessibility

On biodiversity day is it OK to ask: “Are people wildlife too?”

May 22, 2017

idb 2017 logo en2 mark

Today (May 22) is the Inter­na­tion­al Day for Bio­lo­gic­al Diversity (biod­iversity day). This year, the United Nations (UN) has linked the day with tour­ism under the theme “Biod­iversity and Sus­tain­able Tour­ism”; chosen to coin­cide with the Inter­na­tion­al Year of Sus­tain­able Tour­ism for Devel­op­ment. The UN web page about the day states: “Diversity in spe­cies, ecosystems […]

Read More On biodiversity day is it OK to ask: “Are people wildlife too?”

Is child sex tourism on the rise in Goa, India?

May 19, 2017

201604 walking the tightrope exploitation of migrant children in tourism in goa cover cr

The chil­dren of migrant work­ers in Goa, India are increas­ingly exploited for sex by domest­ic and for­eign tour­ists, accord­ing to a report. And tour­ism industry stake­hold­ers should adopt a child-friendly code — per­haps The Code? A research report, Walk­ing the tightrope: Exploit­a­tion of migrant chil­dren in Tour­ism in Goa, says tour­ism has contributed […]

Read More Is child sex tourism on the rise in Goa, India?